Ironing machine



IRONING MACHINE Filed April 27, 1933 l N VEN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Dec. 26, I933 UNITED STATES 1,941,131 IRONING MACHINE Carridon G. Westwood, Chicago, Ill. Application April 27, 1933. Serial No. 668,246

' 9 Claims. (ores-9) the machine, thereby enabling a single operator to take care of both feeding of goods to and receiving them from between the padded roller and the ironing surface'while standing at the front of the machine.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a simple and eificient means for feed-- ing thelgoods to be ironed upwardly over the padded roller and between said padded roller and-the ironing surface at the back of the machine so that the goods will be delivered in an ironed condition from.- between the padded roller 5 and'the ironing surface at the front of the machine-thereby permitting a single operator to take careof both feed and deliveryat the front :or same side of the machine. By means of the present invention the necessity of a second oper- *ator at the back of the machine to feed the goods to be ironed between the-padded roller and the ironing surface is avoided through the provision of a simple. and efiicient attachment which may be cheaply manufactured and readily installed on existing ironing machines.

Other objects of the present invention will appear from the following description when consideredin connection with the accompanying drawing, in which: s

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevational View of an ironing machine equipped with a feeding device constructed in accordance with the present invention. j i Figure 2 is a top plan viewthereof.

Figure 3 is a side elevation looking toward the right of Figure 1. V Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section ;on line 44 of Figure 1. l v Figure :5 is a fragmentary view partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, showing the mounting means for the yieldable roller and the switching means associated therewith;

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view, showing the 5 manner of wiring the switching means of the yieldable roller in the circuit of the driving motor for the padded roller.

Atype of. ironing machine now in general use comprises a stationaryiron 5 in the form of an electrically or steam heated chest. provided with a concave ironing surface, and a single padded rATENroFFIC'E roller 6 cooperating with the concave'sur'face of I the iron 5 to effect ironing of goods fed between such roller and iron. Inusing a ironing machine of this type, an operator ordinarily stands at the back of the machine, or to the left thereof as viewed in Figure 3, for feeding the goods to be ironed between thepadded roller 6 and the iron 5, a second operator being necessary at the front of the machine, or at the right thereof as viewed in Figure 3, to receive the ironed goods as they are delivered from between the roller Gandthe iron 5 at the latter side of the machine.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide means whereby a single operator standing at the front of the machine m-aytake care of both feedingand delivery of goods to and from the machine, thereby making the services of a second operator unnecessary. w

A means for carrying out the present invention includes a piurality of endless flexible belts 7 made ofany suitable material and passing about pulleys or rollers}, 9 and 10 at spaced points throughout the lengthof the paddedroller 6, each belt 7 having a lower portion ,directedhy: the rollers 8 and 9 so as to conform :to and engage the convex upper surface cf the padded roller 6. It will benoted that the beltsT-pass about the roller fiat the front of the machine a material distance above the stationary iron 5 at this side ofthe machine so as toleave plenty of room for the operator to introduce the goods to be ironed between-the belts 7and thepadded roller 6, and .to receive the ironed goods from between t p d e m ler 6 a d h tat nar iron 5. At the same time, the belts '7 pass about the roller 9 at the back of the machine in close proximity to the upwardly extending rearportion of the stationary iron so that the goods fed between the belts '7 and padded ro1lerI6 -are the front and back of padded roller 6 so as to position the rollers 8 and 9 below the top of padded roller 6, whereby the lower portion of each belt '7 is made to conform to the upper convex surface of padded roller 6 as mentioned above and clearly shown in Figure 3. While frictional engagement of belts '7 with padded roller 6 may be relied upon for effecting driving of belts 7, such belts may be positively driven by the use of suitable gearing (not shown) from the driven shaft of padded roller 6 to the shaft of any one or more of rollers 8, 9 and 10. v V

Projecting upwardly above the .arms 13 and 14 are standards 18 rigid with brackets 15 and slidably engaged by collars 19 supporting the ends of the shaft of upper roller 10, the standards 18 and roller 10 being disposed intermediate the rollers 8 and 9 as clearly shown in Figure 3. Helical compression springs 26 encircle the standards 18 between the sleeves 19 and brackets 15 so as to yieldingly elevate roller 16 and maintain the belts '7 under tension, thereby keeping the convex lower portions of belts '7 properly frictionally engaged with the periphery of padded roller 6. These elements serve as means for enabling the variation of the tension of the-belts '7 and the friction between said belts and roller 6.

The standards 18 may project above the roller 10 to be connected at their upper ends by a transverse bar 21 having a plurality of pairs of depending fingers 22 engaging the periphery of roller 10 at opposite sides of the belts '7 to properly guide and keep the belts '7 separated.

In operation, the goods to be ironed are fed between the belts '7 and the upper portion of padded roller 6 at the right hand side of the machine as viewed in Figure 3, being carried upwardly over said padded roller 6 and then downwardly betweenthe rear portion of stationary iron 5 and padded roller 6. The iron 5 and roller 6 then cooperate to effect ironing of the goods, feeding the same forwardly and delivering them in an ironed condition at the front or right hand side of the machine as viewed in Figure 3.3 It will thus be seen that the goods may be fedbetweenthe iron 5 and roller 6 and received therefrom by a single operator maintaining a position at one side of the machine, thus rendering the services of a second operator unnecessary.

As shown clearly in Figure 5, the roller 8 is pressed by springs 25 toward the padded roll 6 so as to be yieldably positioned away from the latter, and means is provided to automatically throw out of operation the motor for driving the roll 6 when the roller 8 is forced a predetermined excessive distance away from roll 6,

such as will occur should the operators hand be caught between roll 6 and'roller 8 when feeding the material to be ironed between the belts 7 and roll 6. By the use of this safety device, injury to the operator may be prevented. As shown, the ends of the shaft 11 of roller 8 are -movab1e in'elongated slots 26 of arms 13, and the springs 1 25' bear against the ends of'shaft 11 to yieldingly urge 'the' roller 8 toward roll 6. switching means may be utilized to stop the driv- Any suitable ing motor 27 of roll 6 (Figure 6) when roller 8 is forced a suiiicient distance away from roll 6. As shown, a switch may be associated with each arm 13 at each end of shaft 11, each switch including a plunger 28 bearing against shaft 11 and carrying atmovable contact 29 normally bridging stationary contacts 30. The switches are wired in series in the circuit of motor 2'7 as shown in Figure 6 so that such circuit will be broken if either end of roller 8 is forced away from roll 6 a sufficient distance to disengage the movable contact 29 of one of the switches from the associated stationary contacts 39. Slight yielding of roller 8, such as caused by the insertion of goods to be ironed between belts '7 and roll 6 will not effect sufficient movement of contacts 29 to disengage them from contacts 30, but the inser ion of a thicker object, such as the operators hand, will do so. The usual manually operable switch 31 is provided to manually throw the motor 27 into and out of operation.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention may be readily applied to existing ironing machines at a small cost and will efficiently function in the manner contemplated. Minor changes are contemplated within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim as new is:

l. The combination with an ironing machine provided with a stationary iron having a concaved ironing surface and a padded roller cooperating with said concaved surface, of means mounted on the frame of the machine and including movable feeding elements cooperating with an exposed'portion of said padded roller for feeding goods to be ironed on said padded roller at one side of the machine and then between the latter and the stationary iron at the opposite side of the machine. r

2. The combination with an ironhaving a concaved surface, and a padded roller arranged above the iron and cooperating with said concaved surface, of a plurality of endless belts arranged above said padded roller and each having a lower portion conforming to andengaging the convex upper surface of said roller for cooperating with the latter to transfer goods to be ironed from the front of the padded roller to the back thereof and to feed the goods between the padded roller and the iron at the back of said roller. 7 1

3. The combination with an ironing machine provided with a stationary iron having a concaved ironing surface and a padded roller arranged above the iron and cooperating with said concaved surface, of brackets rigidly mounted on the frame of the machine at opposite ends 'of its said roller and having forwardly and rearwardly gaging the convex upper surface of the padded roller to cooperate with the latter for transferring goods to be ironed, from the front of the padded roller 'to the back thereof and .for feeding the goods between the stationary iron and the padded roller at the back of the latter. 4. The combination'with an ironing machine provided with a stationary iron having a concaved ironing surface and a padded roller arranged above the iron and cooperating with said concaved surface, of brackets rigidly mounted on 1 the frame of the machine at opposite ends of said roller and having forwardly and rearwardly downwardly curving arms, rollers journaled in the forward and rear ends of said arms respectively in spaced relation above the front portion 1 of the stationary iron and in close proximity to the rear portion of the stationary iron, a plurality of endless belts passing "around the lastnamed rollers at spaced points throughout the length of the padded roller and each having a lower portion conforming to and engaging the convex upper surface of the padded roller to cooperate with thelatter for-transferring goods to be ironed from the front of the padded roller to the back thereof and for feeding the goods between the stationary iron and the padded roller at the back of the latter, standards rigid with and rising from said brackets, a further roller having a supporting shaft slidably engaged with said standards for vertical movement relative to the latter, and yieldable means associated with said standards for constantly urging the latter roller upwardly to maintain the belts under tension with the convex lower portions of said belts frictionally engaged with the upper surface of the padded roller.

5. The combination with an ironing machine provided with a stationary iron having a concaved ironing surface and a padded roller arranged above the iron and cooperating with said concaved surface, of brackets rigidly mounted on the frame of the machine at opposite ends of said roller and having forwardly and rearwardly downwardly curving arms, rollers journaled in the forward and rear ends of said arms respectively in spaced relation above the front portion of the stationary iron and in close proximity to the rear portion of the stationary iron, a plurality of endless belts passing around the last-named rollers at spaced points throughout the length of the padded roller and each having a lower portion conforming to and engaging the convex upper surface of the padded roller to cooperate with the latter for transferring goods to be ironed from the front of the padded roller to the back thereof and for feeding the goods between the stationary separation between said for automatically throwing said motor out of op-. e

eration upon excessive movement of said yieldable roller away from said padded roller.

6. -An ironing machine comprising a moving padded roller, 'a stationary iron cooperating with said roller, said iron having a concaved ironing surface adjacent part of the surface of said roller, and feeding means mounted opposite said iron and cooperating with the surface of said roller for feeding goods .to be ironed across the surface of said roller opposite said iron and for then guiding said goods between said iron and said roller.

'7. The structure of claim 6 wherein said feeding means comprises at least-one endless band yieldingly engaging the surface of said roller.

8. An ironing machine comprising a moving padded roller, a stationary iron cooperating with said roller, said iron having a concaved ironing surface adjacent part of the surface of said roller,

an endless feeding band mounted opposite said iron yieldingly and frictionally engaging the surface of said roller, and means for'enabling variation of the tension of said band. I

9.'An ironing machine comprising a moving padded roller, a stationary iron cooperating with said roller, said iron having a concaved ironing surface adjacent part of the surface of said roller, an endless feeding band mounted opposite said iron yieldingly and frictionally engaging the surface of said roller, and means for automatically stopping said moving roller upon a predetermined feeding band and said roller.

CARRIDON G. WESTWOOD. 

